GERMAN LITERATURE 2

The module is taught as a core course in the Master’s degree programme in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature (30 hours lesson time and 6 CP). It shares the general objectives of the mentioned Master's degree programme within the area of German Literature and its analysis and interpretation.

To meet the objective of bringing students to an advanced level of German language and skills of analysis and interpretation, the course will be taught in German with brief comments and explanations in Italian where necessary or requested.

Students who choose to follow the course as an optional subject and students who take part in the Erasmus programme are requested to contact the course instructor to ascertain they have the necessary language and literary competences.

The course wishes to obtain the follwing results:

- intensive study of chosen works representing different genres

- development of the critical and expository skills needed to discuss and analyse literary texts

- acquisition of meta-theoretical notions concerning the relationship between literature and historical and political contexts

- acquisition of comparative intercultural notions and awareness through outcomes achieved in a European literary prospective

- improvement of language skills (towards levels C1/C2 on the CEFR) and skills of bibliographic research

- ability to translate into Italian extracts from literary texts and to reflect on the translation process

- improvement of the ability to evaluate differing interpretative approaches and to formulate personal and effective hypotheses and judgements and to express them publicly, arguing a personal position

- development of the capacity to project and to map out a process of text analysis and to elaborate autonomously short presentations and papers

- ability to interact in interuniversity and international contexts through meetings with German-speaking students and researchers

- continued consolidation of the ability to select and utilize electronic sources and resources in German autonomously, and introduction to the ability to plan and carry out scientific work required in the various phases of the degree course, and the final thesis in particular.

It will therefore be possible to develop an effective awareness of the functioning and structure of a literary text and the direct ability to identify the critical mechanisms functional to its interpretation.

Bachelor’s degree (triennale) and number of credits of German Language and Literature following the access guidelines established by the Master’s degree programme in European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature (LLEAP).

All students are to have the language and analytical skills necessary to cope autonomously with the reading and semantic analysis of texts in German (at the C1/C2 level of the CEFR). They are also required to prepare ca. 30-minute oral presentations in German on a topic related to the course programme. Students are also required to have the communicative and conversational skills necessary to take an active role in scientific debate.

Students who choose to follow the course as an optional subject and students who take part in the Erasmus programme are kindly requested to contact the course instructor to ascertain they have the necessary language and literary competences for the course and the coursework.

Corse title: "The world according to Kleist"

On the background of Kleist's troubled biography and the complex historical-political scenario of the Napoleonic era, the course aims not only to identify the extremely innovative approaches both of his responses to the late-Enlightenment tradition and of his poetics in general, but also to analyze specifically the dramatic and narratological strategies that mark his prose texts.

We will try to investigate how this author, who was rightly defined by Thomas Mann as completely "sondergleichen", that is, incomparable or unparalleled, almost lets explode the schemes of contemporary classicism and romanticism, exploiting all the potential of literary genres, from the trivial to the so-called "high" ones, to contribute, with the means of art, to a radical cultural and social awakening without ever denying, however, the insurmountable uncertainties of the human condition.

Primary literature (set):

Heinrich von Kleist:

(Short) Stories:
- Michael Kohlhaas
- Die Marquise von O....
- Das Erdbeben in Chili
- Die Verlobung in St. Domingo
- Das Bettelweib von Locarno
- Der Findling
- Die heilige Cäcilie
- Der Zweikampf

Dramas:
- Die Familie Schroffenstein
- Der zerbrochne Krug
- Penthesilea
- Das Käthchen von Heilbronn
- Prinz Friedrich von Homburg

Essays:
- Über die allmähliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Reden
- Empfindungen vor Friedrichs Seelandschaft
- Über das Marionettentheater

Kleist's texts can be found also online (https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/autoren/namen/kleist.html ) and in the economic edition: Helmut Sembdner: Heinrich von Kleist. Sämtliche Werke und Briefe. München 2001.
Information on current research and cultural activities around Kleist can be found via the following sites: https://www.heinrich-von-kleist.org/kleist-gesellschaft ; https://www.heilbronn.de/kultur-freizeit/kultureinrichtungen-und-angebote/literatur/kleist-archiv-sembdner.html .

Secondary literature (recommended):

Günter Blamberger: Heinrich von Kleist. Biographie. Frankfurt a.M. 2011
Ingo Breuer (Hg.): Kleist-Handbuch. Leben - Werk - Wirkung. Stuttgart, Weimar 2013
Bettina Faber, Ingo Breuer (Hgg.): "Ein blauer Schleier, wie in Italien gewebt". Kleist-Tage in Venedig. Heilbronner Kleist-Studien 14, Heilbronn 2016
Bettina Faber: "Mein einziges, mein höchstes Ziel ist gesunken, und ich habe nun keines mehr – ". Kleist auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Wahrheit in STUDI GERMANICI, vol. Studi Germanici – «Quaderni dell’AIG» 1 (2018), pp. 67-91
Klaus Müller-Salget: Kleist und die Folgen. Stuttgart 2017

More information will be provided at the beginning of the course.

For study-purposes students can refer to translations of the texts, meanwhile at the examination are admitted only the original versions in german language. Further bibliographical explanations and indications will be given during the course.

In preparation for and during the exam, all students will be required:

1) to be familiar with the chosen texts and to be able to translate into Italian a piece from one of those texts;

2) to be able to discuss the cultural and historical contexts of the works being examined;

3) to be conversant with the textual tools to be able first to comment on both the content and formal aspects, in order finally to present competently their own personal opinions;

4) to be able to make use of the critical tools of analysis when discussing the texts in the original;

and 5) the student must be able to give presentations in German in class. The presentations should be prepared based on a well-reasoned bibliographic research and an independent evaluation of the interpretative hypotheses found in critical reading. Alternatively, the student may present a short thesis in German (approximately 10 pages), which must be written beforehand and submitted at least two weeks before the date of the oral exam.
The oral exam, lasting approximately 45 minutes, will be divided into three parts, each lasting about 15 minutes. In the first part, the student will translate and comment on a passage taken from one of the texts analyzed in the presentations or in the thesis. In the second part, the student will discuss the topics of the presentations or the thesis they have submitted. The third part will be dedicated to a conversation during which the student must answer specific questions and discuss the theses proposed by the instructor concerning one or more of the topics covered during the course. Each of the three parts of the exam will be considered in the final evaluation with a score ranging from 0 to 10 points.
Honours will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and understanding with reference to the syllabus, excellent judgement and communication skills.

For studying, the texts can be consulted in italian translation, while during the exam only the texts in the original language will be referenced.
The exame will be held in German.

Front lectures with seminarial elements (presentations and class discussion); additional support material; supplementary multi-medial activities.

At the beginning of classes, students are advised to bring this programme with them. It will be discussed and explained in detail by the lecturer. The topics of the lessons will be presented together with the order in which the texts will be dealt with and discussed. Students who will not be able to attend classes are kindly requested to contact the teacher in order to agree on the methods for replacing class presentations and preparing for the final exam.
Other informations will be communicated during the module and/or in internet. For further information contact the professor.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development